Thread: NY Senate rejects state-level DREAM Act

NY Senate rejects state-level DREAM Act

VOTE UP!


Jon Campbell, ROC6:35 p.m. EDT March 17, 2014

The state Senate on Monday rejected a controversial bill that would allow illegal immigrants access to state financial aid for college.

In a rare vote with an uncertain outcome, 30 senators voted in favor of the bill -- two votes shy of passage. Twenty-nine voted against the bill, including all 28 Senate Republicans who were present and Sen. Ted O’Brien, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County.

Democrats in the Senate implored their colleagues to support the bill, which for the past two years has passed the Democratic-led Assembly.
"I want to make it very clear what this bill does," Senate Co-Leader Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, said. "It allows for every New York student to have the same shot at a quality education. Nothing more or nothing less."

The bill, known as the DREAM Act, would make state-level financial aid for college available to immigrants in the country illegally, while setting up a commission that would raise funds and distribute scholarships to those who meet in-state tuition requirements.

The bill had the support from many Senate Democrats and the five-member Independent Democratic Conference, including Klein and Sen. David Carlucci, D-Clarkstown, Rockland County.

O’Brien and Sen. Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn, were the only Democrats to vote against the bill, though Felder caucuses with Republicans. Two senators were absent for the vote, and two seats are vacant.

It was unclear for months whether the measure would make it to the Senate floor for a vote. Klein and Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, had to agree to bring it to the Senate floor.

Skelos has been opposed to the measure. He has said there may be support among Senate Republicans for creating a privately funded DREAM Fund, but not allowing undocumented immigrants to collect state-funded tuition assistance.

The Assembly passed the DREAM Act last month and included it in its budget resolutions.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/...m-act/6542143/

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